Joe Biden’s Signs Veterans’ Health Legislation, Praises Jon Stewart For Role In Passage: “We Owe You Big, Man”

Ted Johnson
·2 min read
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Joe Biden signed legislation on Wednesday the extends veterans’ health benefits to those exposed to toxic burn pits, praising Jon Stewart for his role in rallying public support to compel Congress to act.

“What you have done Jon matters, and you know it does. You should know it really, really matters. You refused to let anybody forget, you refused to let them forget, and we owe you big man, we owe you big,” Biden said.

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Stewart, who was present for the East Room ceremony, was given a standing ovation.

Stewart lashed out at Republicans last month for blocking the bill, the Honoring Our Promise To Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, or PACT Act, after a number of GOP members had previously supported it. While some Republicans claimed that a provision was inserted in the bill that would increase spending, Stewart dismissed those concerns.

Outside the Capitol the day after the bill was blocked, Stewart told reporters, “I’m used to the lies..I’m used to the hypocrisy…I am used to all of it, but I am not used to the cruelty.”

The legislation was brought back to the floor last week, and it passed 86-11.

At the White House, Stewart sat in the front row, next to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Members of veterans’ families stopped and hugged him at points during the ceremony.

During his remarks, Biden said, “The PACT Act is the least we can do for the countless men and women, many of whom may be in this room, for all I know, who suffered toxic exposure while serving their country.”

At one moment, Biden addressed one of the attendees, Brielle Robinson, the surviving daughter of Sgt. First Class Heath Robinson, an Ohio veteran who died of lung cancer in 2020. He said that his illness was due to exposure to the military burn pits when he was deployed to Iraq. The legislation was named for him.

“You see the little guy sitting right next to you,” Biden said to Brielle Robinson. “That’s my grandson. His daddy lost to the same burn pits, and he knows what you are going through. But guess what? You are going to do this, and you are going to be really, really strong.”

Biden’s son Beau died in 2015. The president has connected his son’s cancer to his burn pit exposure while he served in the National Guard.

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